Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Eggs
To put it simply: There is nothing quite like the incredible, edible egg! Eggs are surrounded by more symbolism, myths, and old wives鈥 tales than any other everyday food. Here are some surprising facts about eggs.
Egg Symbolism
Eggs play a symbolic role in many cultures and religions. Their oval shape symbolizes fertility, eternity, and the circle of life with neither beginning nor end. In the Egyptian myth of Creation, eggs were linked to the creation of the universe, suggesting that the Earth itself may have been born out of an egg. The new life that lies dormant in the egg came to be associated with life energy.
Of course, the egg is part of the Easter celebration and associated with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Eggs also take on an important role in the Jewish Passover holiday as a symbol of sacrifice and loss. See our page All About Easter!
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Intriguing Egg Facts
Opportunities, like eggs, come one at a time.
- The entire yolk of an egg is only one cell, one of nature鈥檚 largest! An ostrich egg, which can serve about 24 for breakfast, is probably the largest cell nature manufactures (currently, that is).
- The color of the shell is strictly a function of the breed of the bird. You can (usually) tell what color egg a chicken will lay by looking at the color of her earlobe. Hens with white ears produce white eggs, hens with red ears produce brown eggs, and hens with bluish-green ears produce bluish-green eggs! Find out more about different chicken breeds and the eggs they produce.
- Americans consume an average of 281 eggs annually, which keeps about 285 million hens busy day and night. If you鈥檇 like to keep your own hens busy, check out our Raising Chickens blog.
- An old-fashioned but valid test for egg freshness is accomplished by gently dropping a whole uncooked egg into a salt solution (two tablespoons salt in two cups of water.) If very fresh, the egg will be full and heavy, and it will sink and tip to one side. If moderately fresh, it will remain suspended in the middle of the water upright; if it bobs up to the top, it is stale.
- According to folklore, you can stand a raw egg on end on the spring equinox (or fall equinox). Let us know if it works for you!
- Government grades are based on the size of the air cell in the egg, its quality, and its freshness. A Grade AA egg must be less than ten days old from packing, and a Grade A, 30 days.
- The whitish, twisted material seen near the raw egg yolk is thick albumen. It is part of a layer of dense egg white surrounding the entire yolk. The albumen helps keep the yolk centered in the egg. It is especially prominent in fresh, high-quality eggs.
- The feed determines the color of the yolk. If the chicken eats grass, yellow corn, or other feedstuffs rich in yellow pigments, the yolk will be deep yellow in direct relation to the amount of yellow in the feed, regardless of the breed of chicken or the color of the shell.
- The incubation period of a chicken egg is 21 days.
- Shortly after an egg is laid, it is placed in front of a light source that reveals the condition of the innards. This process, called candling, can detect cracks in the shell or harmless but unappetizing blood spots on the yolk. It also reveals the size of the egg鈥檚 air cell: the smaller the cell, the better the egg.
- Old wives鈥 tales suggest that the shape of an egg indicates the sex of the chick that will hatch from it. Unfortunately, there is no truth to this myth. Scientists are unable to distinguish between the sexes before the eggs hatch.
- The greenish-gray color around the yolk of a hard-boiled egg is a harmless compound of iron and sulfur called ferrous sulfide, which forms when an egg is heated. To prevent its formation, boil the egg only as long as necessary to set the yolk, plunge it into cold water, and peel it promptly.
- While brown, white, and green eggs are essentially the same in nutritional value, there are definite preferences by individuals and by people in different regions of the country.
Now, here鈥檚 an age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
No one knows the answer, but we鈥檙e going to go with the egg. When a mutation or new species is created, it comes from two different parents. Think of how dogs are bred. It鈥檚 most likely that two birds who were similar to chickens (but not chickens as we know them today) mated, and out came an egg that turned into a chicken! What鈥檚 your theory?
Learn even more about eggs and eggshells and their various uses here.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Depends! If you buy them commercially in the United States - then they must be refrigerated. If you buy them commercially in Europe then they must NOT be refrigerated. The difference is weather or not the eggs are washed
( Commercially the United States washes the eggs but commercially the Europeans do not ) If you gather farm fresh eggs as long as they are NOT washed they do NOT require refrigeration and will remain fresh for up to a month. Fresh eggs have a coating which preserves the eggs naturally. It is when this coating is washed off that the eggs must be refrigerated.
Eggs must be refrigerated; I think this is the USDA law for restaurants; (eating eggs in restaruants is risky); I do not eat raw eggs nor do my cats; I hard-boil";
Proteins like eggs and meats are cooked to help make them more digestible ;That is their nutrients are more readily available to the digestion
In response to Anne - your answer is misleading. As described by others - fresh unwashed eggs do not need to be refrigerated. We run a small organic egg farm (~50 birds) and never refrigerate our eggs - unless we accidentally need to wash them or get them wet. USDA rules apply to mass-production of eggs - which are the worst eggs to use - laid by chickens generally housed in the worst conditions.
Most animal factory farms today, of which there are many, give their animals two shots, one is an antibiotic shot (because they live in filth), and the other is a hormone shot (to make them grow fatter...faster), and then they are fed GMO grain. GMO stands for "genetically modified organism", and all this is what goes into humans, when they eat dairy, or meat.
If you want to stay away from GMO's, then always look for the ORGANIC symbol of the front of the package. It shows that it wasn't made with man made chemicals (of which there are many in all foods), or GMO's (of which is in most everything you eat and drink today, if not organic).
Please everyone, learn about GMO's, this isn't the way humans were meant to consume! The first GMO crop was made in 1995, and has increased dramatically since then. And you wonder why diseases are increasings, people are having more skin problems, health problems? Get educated, and change the way you eat! You'll feel better, AND look better! I did, and when I stopped eating and drinking that junk, I lost 50 un-wanted pounds, and now I look and feel SO much better!
Organics are getting so popular now, that even Walmart and Target stores are putting them on their shelves! Just get educated on this subject, because some company's are lying about being organic, to increase their profits. Get educated, and get healthy!
Thank you, Glenn for your informative comment.
It would be a life changer if people knew the conditions that hens were raised in. Also once you have raised hens, you appreciate their individual personalities, communication, and intelligence Even 鈥渃age free鈥 are severely overcrowded. Perhaps 鈥減asture raised 鈥 would be more humane.
Are there any space or other humane requirements for hens laying organic eggs?
You can stand an egg on end on any day of the year; I've done it many, many times to show up superstitious types who insist that it only works on the Equinox...
We have successfully stood eggs on their ends during the spring equinox. My kids get a kick out of it every year!!
Brown eggs are richer in flavor imo.
I have to worry about ?cholesterol in the eggs since they have 185mg of cholesterol. Why don't anyone mention that fact?
